Joe Rosa looking for course record #3 of 2009. 11 Dyestat Elite/ESPN Rise nationally ranked teams set to square off in Easterns race
October 8, 2009 – Joe Rosa (photo below by John Nepolitan) isn’t making any predictions, but after what he did last week there is no doubt that the junior from West Windsor-Plainsboro North could be on the verge of taking down another historic record at Saturday’s 37th Manhattan Invitational.
Rosa, arguably the best cross-country runner in the nation right now, will chase his third course record of the season when he takes the line in the F Division race (1:51 p.m.) at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
The time Rosa’s shooting for over the slighty altered 2.5-mile course (the start was moved up and the finish moved back due to construction) is 12:06.7, set a year ago by Solomon Haile of Sherwood High in Maryland.
Rosa is coming off perhaps one of the greatest races ever run by a runner in the Northeast with his mind-blowing 15:04 course record at Holmdel Park at last Saturday’s Shore Coaches Invitational. Rosa’s time chopped 12 seconds off the former mark of 15:16, set at the 2006 NJ Meet of Champions by legendary Craig Forys of Colts Neck.
Almost as remarkable was the runner-up finish by Jim Rosa, Joe’s twin, who matched Forys’ mark with a time of 15:16.
The races by the Rosa’s were voted as the top two performances of the week in the nation by DyeStat viewers.
Joe Rosa said the Shore Coaches race has put him in the right frame of mind to make a run at Haile’s record.
``Shore coaches really gives me a lot of confidence,’’ said Rosa, who opened his season with a course record 15:19.2 at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia . ``I improved 34 seconds from last year (at Holmdel), and I feel like if I really have a great day, I may be able to take a run at the record. But I will definitely have to be at my best like I was last week.
``The improvement I've had on Holmdel and the longer Belmont course really make me feel that I am in much better shape than last year, and I really want to go out and really just push my limits and prove to myself that I can consistently improve from course to course.’’
Rosa said Van Cortlandt’s layout plays to his strenghths.
``I think it is a lot like Holmdel in that it finishes very fast compared to the rest of the course. I think it helps me because I like to go out hard and push the middle and once you get to the downhills and flats of the end of the race, it's a lot easier to run fast.’’
Rosa, who set the Van Cortlandt sophomore class record by winning the Eastern States race last year in 12:20.0, said that he always cranks it up a notch when he runs at Van Cortlandt.
``Van Cortlandt is my favorite place to run because I only get to run it once a year and everywhere you go in the East, people who run cross country know VanCortlandt,’’ he said. ``So I really try to make the best of my one appearance each year at Vanny. Also, on the final straightaway there’s always so many people cheering you on that it really helps you finish strong.’’
The Rosa’s have a simple strategy and don’t really worry very much about splits.
``Jim and I just go out hard and help eachother out the first half of the race then we start to get competitive with each other somewhere in the second half,’’ said Joe Rosa. ``I like to run a lot more on feel than time. Last week I didn't hear my mile or 2 mile splits and I think it helped not knowing where I stood because I just kept on pressing.’’
What would it mean to Rosa to own both the Holmdel and Van Cortlandt records.
``Both records would really mean a lot to me,’’ he said. ``Both courses have had tremendous runners in the past and are two of the most popular courses in the Northeast, so to say I've run faster than any other guy who has run there would be really cool.’’
Forys, who owned the Vanny record for about 12 minutes in 2006 when he ran 12:10.7 (Tommy Gruenewald of Fayetteville-Manlius ran 12:10.6 in the very next race), said that Rosa is certainly capable of taking down Haile’s record.
``He for sure has a shot at the record,’’ said Forys. ``A 15:04 at Holmdel is blazing fast. He’s definitley fit and definitely talented. Very low 12 minutes sounds definitely possible.’’
The Eastern States Championship race (2:15 p.m) should be a dandy as Alex Hatz (photo left winning the 2008 NY NXN Regional - photo by John Nepoilitan) of Fayetteville-Manlius NY, and the Jersey trio of Jon Vitez of NE#1/US#7 Haddonfield, Tyler Udland of Millburn and Pat Schellberg of Delbarton lock horns.
Hatz ran 12:27 to take third in this race last year while Udland was second to Haile in 12:28 in the E race.
TEAM OUTLOOK
National and regional rankings will be at stake when some of the top teams in the country clash in Saturday’s Eastern States showdown, scheduled for 2:15 P.M.
Fayetteville-Manlius, No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 in New York, is the favorite on paper, but check out the gauntlett of powerhouses that it must knock off to maintain its lofty ranking.
Out to try to take down FM in the 21-team field will be loaded teams like Haddonfield, NJ (NE#1/USA #7), CBA, NJ (NE #5/USA #30), defending champion Don Bosco Prep, NJ (NJ #3, Defending champs), La Salle, Pa (NE #7, USA #41), Germantown Friends, Pa (NE #3/ USA #25), Liverpool, NY (NY #4), Hendricken, RI (NE #4/USA #26), West Chester Henderson, PA (NE #2/ USA #17), Warwick Valley, NY (NY #3), St Anthonys, NY(NY #9), Walter Johnson, MD (SE #10), and Millburn (NJ #9).
Senior Jon Vitez, Haddonfield’s top gun, is expecting a tight finish.``I think to win the race, some team will need to have a great day, and even then the race will still be close,’’ he said. ``Our team will give it our best and we will see where we stand.
The key for Haddonfield?
``For our team to have a shot at winning, we need to close our gaps and we need to have everyone run well. Even if we do, there is a very good chance we could still lose.’’
Vitez said that while his team is well aware of how the outcome could affect the rankings, that isn’t the primary focus for this race.
``Easterns is definitley going to shake up the rankings and hopefully it works out in a good way for us,’’ said Vitez. ``Our team is focused on running well this weekend and battling with CBA and Germantown. If we run well and move up in the rankings, so be it. Our main goal, however, is to give it our all and see how we shape up with the best teams in the Northeast.’’
Haddonfield edged Germatown by three points and CBA by 13 at the Bowdoin Park Classic two weeks ago in Wappingers Falls, NY.
`` This meet is an extremely big meet for us,’’ said Vitez, the Bowin Classic champion in 15:41.5 (No. 3 in course history). ``Not so much because we want to uphold our ranking, but because CBA and Germantown are both in our region for NTN, so we want to see how we stack up with them in more of a championship race as opposed to a tri-meet which is what we essentially had at Bowdoin.’’
CBA junior Mike Mazzaccaro said CBA is hungry to show it’s better than how it races at Bowdoin. ``The loss two Saturday’s ago in Bowdoin has definitely been motivating us to train harder and prepare to race these teams again and do better,’’ said Mazzzaccaro. ``I expect that as a team we will do better then we did Bowdoin considering our team consists of a couple of faster mile types, so I believe the shorter and flatter course will help us out.’’
Mazzaccaro said here are a couple things CBA needs to do to be successfull.
``There are two key things for us in order to come out on top. The first being that we all need is to get relaxed and in control. The other key would be to keep on coming on at the end of the long straightaway and not let any points get away.’’
Mazzaccaro agrees with Vitez about how things could end up.
``We are expecting a close race between ourselves, Haddonfield and Germantown along with some of the other highly ranked teams coming to Van Cortlandt. And I believe that we will be able to make a run at them if everything goes right for us.’’
Both CBA and Haddonfield have made both made one changes from its Bodwoin lineups.
CBA will be using Mazzaccaro, Dan Bailey, Dan Mykityshyn, Mark Lee,Rich Bohny, Colin Johnson, and Will Villa.
Haddonfield has inserted Ethan Quanci, the JV champion at the Bowdoin Classic, into its top seven, while Villa (16:54 at Holmdel last week) replaces Conrad Lippert in CBA’s seven.
Here is a quick look at the other varsity races
The A Division features NY #10 West Genesse and NJ #17 Shawnee. The big favorite in the B race is NY #5 Shenendehowa. NY #6 North Rockalnd heads the field in the C race. A couple of strong NJ teams will battle it out in the D race as NJ #20 Ocean City and Red Bank Catholic collide. NY #2 Baldwinsville should get a strong test from NJ #14 West Windsor-Plainsboro South in the E race. No team in the F race can match NJ #11 West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s top three of Joe and Jim Rosa and Jon Squeri, but the big question will be whether WWPN can hold the huge lead it will have after they cross. NY #8 Shaker, NJ #10 Ridge, NJ #16 Ridgewood, and NJ #19 Mendham will clash in the G race.
Girls Preview
Cuffe and Fayetteville Manlius looking for a run at the record books.
As always, the Manhattan Invitational draws the cream of the crop from the Northeast, and the 37th edition of this humongous meet is no exception.
There are seven girls’ varsity races, and they include teams from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. There’s even a team from Alabama (Montgomery Academy, in the Varsity A race) making the trip.
Plan your trip into the Bronx and to Van Cortland Park early for two reasons. One, there’s lots of construction and fencing around the park and fans should familiarize themselves with the lay of the land before cheering their favorite team and/or runner.
Secondly, the biggest girls’ race of the day is the first girls’ race of the day, the Eastern States Championships, at 2:46 p.m. It will feature seven teams from the DyeStat Top 50, including top-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius (NY), the winner of the last three Nike Team National titles in Oregon.
The other ranked teams in this race are US #3/NY #2 Saratoga Springs (NY), US #7/NY #3 Monroe-Woodbury (NY), US #18/SE #2 Midlothian (VA), US #29/NE #1 Lincoln Sudbury (MA), and US #49/SE #5 Tatnall (DE).
Fayetteville is the defending champion of the Eastern race. Just to show how strong this program is, it left one runner home sick and another runner got a mid-race cramp, and it still nearly broke the famed 2.5-mile course record, averaging 14:40.26, No. 2 in VCP history.
Saratoga Springs averaged 14:39.74 to set the course record in 2004.
On an individual scale, four of the top five finishers from last season’s race are back, but they’ll have to battle with last year’s Varsity C champion and the pre-race favorite, Aisling Cuffe (photo right by John Nepolitan) of Cornwall, NY.
Cuffe ran 17:38.2, No. 2 in course history, at the Bowdoin Park Classic last month. Last year on this course she won the Varsikty C race in 14:36.88.
Only individual champion Melanie Thompson, the Voorhees NJ star now at Oregon, is missing from last year’s top five.
Fayetteville’s Courtney Chapman, (photo left by John Nepolitan) , is the top returning finisher after placing second in this race last season in 14:14.30.
Syosset (NY) returns to defend its title in the Varsity A race (2:58 p.m.). Last year it won by four points over Randolph (NJ), which is now in the Easterns race.
The Varsity B race (3:10 p.m.) offers a challenge for a trio of New Jersey runners, as Red Bank Catholic’s Michelle Capozzi and Molly McNamara meet head-on with Caroline Williams of Mount St. Mary.
Watch out for Montgomery senior Jill Prentice in the Varsity C race (3:22 p.m.). Prentice missed the NJ Shore Coaches Invitational due to illness, but the week before she ran 18:17, No. 2 in course history, at Bucks Mill Park in Colts Neck. The team favorite should be US #37/NY #9 Greenwich.
Immaculate Heart (NJ) will be a handful for the field in the Varsity D race (3:34 p.m.) IHA is coming off an 87-89 upset of previous NJ #1 Ridge at the Shore Coaches Invitational. Let’s see if Carlsbad, the lone California school in the mix, makes it worth the 3,000-mile trip.
Smithtown (NY) is the defending champion in the Varsity E race (3:46 p.m.). Last season Smithtown was led by then-freshman Victoria Lowe, fifth in 15:36.15.
The Varsity F race (3:58. p.m.) will feature a couple of regionally ranked teams and a handful of young but outstanding runners. NE #5 Pennsbury and NY #10 Pearl River will go head-to-head with some solid New Jersey teams, Holy Angels and Morristown to name a couple. The top of the individual field also has a Jersey flavor, with three sophomores battling it out – Eastern Christian’s Kristen Traub, Point Pleasant Breach’s Brianna Feerst, and Bernards’ Dana Giordano.
Rosa, arguably the best cross-country runner in the nation right now, will chase his third course record of the season when he takes the line in the F Division race (1:51 p.m.) at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
``He for sure has a shot at the record,’’ said Forys. ``A 15:04 at Holmdel is blazing fast. He’s definitley fit and definitely talented. Very low 12 minutes sounds definitely possible.’’
and the pre-race favorite, Aisling Cuffe (photo right by John Nepolitan) of Cornwall, NY.
Fayetteville’s Courtney Chapman, (photo left by John Nepolitan) , is the top returning finisher after placing second in this race last season in 14:14.30. 
